Saturday, May 13, 2006

I Can Say What I Want, But Not You

I couldn't have said it better, or as well, myself. I applaud the professor and pray that all Americans do, too. Now, let's hope Michigan State U. doesn't cave in to the cries of a handful of anti Americans who have the audacity to protect Professor Wichman's remarks.

Well. what do we have here. Looks like a small case of some people being able to dish it out, but not take it. Let's start at the top. The story begins at Michigan State University with a mechanical engineering professor named Indrek Wichman.

Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student's Association. The e-mail was in response to the students' protest of the Danish cartoons that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. The group had complained the cartoons were "hate speech." Enter Professor Wichman. In his e-mail, he said the following

"Dear Moslem Association: As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intend to protest your protest.

I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey!), burnings of Christian churches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt, the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavian girls and women (called "whores" in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland, and the rioting and looting in Paris France.

This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many, many of my colleagues. I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile "protests."

If you do not like the values of the West -- see the 1st Amendment -- you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans.

Cordially, I. S. Wichman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering"

Well! As you can imagine, the Muslim group at the university didn't like this too well. They're demanding Wichman be reprimanded and mandatory diversity training for faculty and a seminar on hate and discrimination for freshman. How nice. But now the Michigan chapter of CAIR has jumped into the fray. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, apparently doesn't believe that the good professor had the right to express his opinion.

For its part, the university is standing its ground. They say the e-mail was private, and they don't intend to publicly condemn his remarks. That will probably change. Wichman says he never intended the e-mail to be made public, and wouldn't have used the same strong language if he'd known it was going to get out.

How's the left going to handle this one? If you're in favor of the freedom of speech, as in the case of Ward Churchill, will the same protections be demanded for Indrek Wichman? I doubt it. Hey guys send this to everybody and ask them to do the same and tell them to keep passing it around till the whole country gets it. We are in a war to the bitter end.

1 comment:

Frankly, I think the professor was a bit naive to think that what he said to this group (note the word "group" means more than one person) would ever stay private.

All I can say, is that the professor has spent way too many years in the ivory tower of academia.

Where the professor was incorrect, was to correlate all muslims with the atrocities carried out by extremists. He also stereotyped them in a way that only someone who has been electively sheltered could do. Did he even pause to think that these students might be as offended as him by the conduct that has wreaked havoc in their native land?

I can only liken it to as if the world thought that all Americans were KKK members who drove old pick ups and stopped to hang people whenever they pleased.

Also, I expect college kids to protest. It's natural for people this age to take an interest in the world around them. It's the time to question our world and to find their place in it. Frankly, I'd worry more if they didn't protest the stupid images conveyed in the cartoons. Believe me... they were stupid and racist. All groups have been lampooned like this over the ages. Mexicans, blacks, chinese, italians... everyone has endured it. And while I decry the violence set forth by some of the Muslims, I do think they have a right to point out the racist thought in the cartoons, albeit in a peaceful and articulate way.

As for your assessment about the lefties, I think you might be surprised. Interestingly, groups like the ACLU have upheld the first amendment for a lot of groups, including the infamous racist, Tom Metzger.

"He received legal advice from his own sources, as well as aid from the Portland Branch of the ACLU, which prepared a trial brief pro bono, stating that Metzger's "negligent and reckless speech...while recruiting for their organization is protected under the Oregon and U.S. constitutions."

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The blog was started to talk about issues impacting the pressroom both positively and negatively. The views expressed here are not of the LA Times, but of each individual's opinion. The Pressmen's Club is composed of men and women who have printed the paper for twenty years or more. Semi-annual dinners are held in March and October. See Ed Padgett for more information.